Oct. 31, 2009
Box Score
ELON, N.C. ---- The Samford University volleyball team dropped its second straight loss on the road Saturday as the Elon Phoenix swept the Bulldogs in three sets. Samford played Elon close in sets one (25-23) and three (28-26) but the Phoenix blew the match wide open with its 25-8 victory in the second set. Samford now falls to 14-12 overall and 8-4 in conference play while Elon improves to 20-5 overall and 7-4 in league play.
"We just didn't show up today," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "We had a very tough week of practice to prepare for two hard matches and we just didn't show any of that today. I hope we can learn from our mistakes today and rebound tomorrow against UNC Greensboro."
Allie Bettinger led the Bulldogs against the Phoenix posting nine kills and six digs. Elizabeth Neisler notched seven kills and two block assists while Rachel Gadberry posted five kills, hitting a team-high .231. Hillary Fountain also posted five kills while adding nine assists, nine digs and one ace.
Sheriden Stangohr had three kills and three block assists with one ace while Shelby Brandon added one kill and one block assist. Casey Garvey led the Bulldogs in assists with 15 while adding two kills, three digs and one ace. Sarah Gardner and Alexis Bauer also added nine digs while Bauer also served up one ace.
Caroline Lemke and Mandy Wilson led the Phoenix in kills Saturday with eight each. Lemke hit .400 while Wilson hit .500 and added three block assists and one solo block. Ali Deatsch led the back row with 12 digs wile Emily Regan dished out 30 assists.
Samford will play UNC Greensboro Sunday at 1 p.m. CT to close out its five-match road swing. Live stats and video streaming are available at links on the volleyball schedule page at www.samfordsports.com. A full recap and results will be available upon the completion of the match.
Elon 3, Samford 0
The Phoenix opened up the first set with a block to get on the board, but Fountain answered back with a kill to even things up. Stangohr then knocked down a kill to take the lead for Samford, but a service error by Gardner tied the score at two. The Bulldogs took the lead back and maintained it from there on out, even pushing it out to five points on kills by Bettinger, Neisler and Fountain.
However, with Samford leading 21-16, Elon called a timeout and came firing back, scoring five straight points to tie the game at 21. The Bulldogs fought to keep their lead for two points, but with a 23-22 lead, Elon scored three straight points to take the first set, 25-23.
A Samford error gave Elon its first point of the second set before Stangohr evened things with a kill. The Phoenix then rattled off six points to go ahead by six and force Samford to call a time out. Fountain knocked down a kill straight out of the break but Elon would tack on three more points to push its lead out to eight. Samford called another timeout but nothing doing as the Phoenix posted four more points to go ahead by 11. Elon then went on a 13-6 run to wrap up the second set, winning 25-8.
Samford opened the third set with a block by Neisler and Stangohr before Elon answered back with a kill by Wilson. The Phoenix scored twice more to go ahead by two, but Samford would even the score on a kill by Stangohr and a Phoenix error. Elon went ahead by two again but Samford caught back up and tied it. The score would be tied twice more before Samford would take a two-point lead and force Elon to burn a timeout.
Out of the break, the Phoenix cut the lead to one with another kill by Wilson and then a Samford error tied the score at 13. An 8-5 run by the Bulldogs would put Samford up by three and Elon would call a timeout. Another block by Neisler and Stangohr put the Bulldogs up by four out of the break, but Elon would answer back and cut the lead to two. Samford called a timeout, but a 3-1 run by the Phoenix out of the break tied the score at 23. Samford called its last timeout, but it did not seem to help as Elon would go on a 6-3 run to win the third and final set.
